the grass is always greener

The older I get, the more I start to appreciate the journey, versus the destination. Recently I have grown fond of working on the lawn. It is trying, testing, grueling a times in this Texas heat, but rewarding nonetheless.

Last weekend I gathered some huge Flintstone type stones from a new housing development and attempted to arrange my flower bed. I took the leftover brick from our home build to outline the bed, and in the future plan on having my neighbor (son of a former brick mason) mortar it so it looks cleaner. Flowerbeds add character, but without healthy green grass the landscaped marriage is irrelevant. Who wants to be with some old lifeless, worn down grass?

I used to think lawn care was a simple as cutting the grass and watering the lawn, but I have learned that there are a lot of factors to take into consideration. How your grass behaves and grows heavily depends on your environment. Because of our region, we deal mainly with Bermuda & St. Augustine grass. To ensure my lawn thrives and is healthy, I make sure I use popular brand of seed/fertilizer. A few weeks back I fought procrastination and finally applied some to our lawn. I used a broadcast spreader because it helps to spread seed evenly. It basically provides balance. Here are some of the benefits of seed:

The problem with laying grass seed/fertilizer is you don’t see the results instantly. Takes cultivating – watering, trimming, removing dead areas. It is a constant cycle. You keep doing this until one day when you least expect it…you look back and notice the results. The bad areas are patched, the dead areas look alive, and the weeds are completely gone. It is alive and thriving. It parallels life.

I was listening to an old sermon where he went on a tangent about how some people live 30, 40, 50 years and continue to make the same stupid mistakes/excuses they made when they were younger. I understand his frustration. People always want to complain that they were tricked or bamboozled, yet don’t want to accept one iota of responsibility for how they manipulated to get into the situation. It is always somebody else’s fault. At what point do you get tired and want a change? At what point do you basically grow up and stop making excuses? At what point do you look at the common denominator in situations/relationships and understand that it is YOU not them?

I don’t mean to come across foul, but I get sick and tired of foolishness. Between family, friends, work and social networks, I am discovering people whine about everything. Hell, everyone’s life is hard. GET OVER IT!! I guess that is why I chuckled when I read the article about the old Chinese man who was tired of a guy contemplating suicide on a bridge, and pushed him off. I don’t blame him…I can’t stand drama either. Point is, no one has the ideal life, but we constantly fantasize about being in someone else’s shoes. The grass is always greener on the other side…pun intended. You spend all your time wanting to be celebrity, meanwhile the celebrity just wants peace and privacy. You spend all your time wanting to be in her shoes as his wife, but don’t want to make the sacrifices she made to be in her position. You spend all your time feeding her pipe dreams wanting her to fulfill your every selfish desire, but don’t want to step up and take responsibility to be the unselfish man God created you to be. You spend all your time complaining about your meager position in corporate America, but then don’t want to dedicate your spare time to higher education or additional certifications.

In all these situations, you have to assess what you really want. You can continue to just water and cut the grass and do nothing else with your life, or you can get some good seed and grow to the next level. May look like you will never get that promotion, or get through school. You feel like you will never get out of debt, or get a new car, or purchase a home. May feel like you will never find that right someone. Sometimes we are just not in the ideal situation, but we have to make due with what we have. You have to be persistent and consistent, but let me clarify that foremost you have to be wise…and wisdom only comes from Him. Without wisdom you can consistently and persistently do the wrong thing. Having wisdom means you recognize your limitations (e.g. my inability to lay mortar for the brick border). Wisdom means discerning when a door is shut and you need to stop tugging on it. Wisdom is recognizing some things in life are weeds that we need to pull up from the roots and completely discard.

Learn your environment and how to effectively grow there. Get yourself around a good broadcast spreader…those who will sow into you and help provide that balance. Develop a pattern of cultivating and pruning. Water yourself with things that will provide you with the nutrients to grow, versus staying in the past and tugging on closed doors (e.g. your feelings being hurt and still contacting/stalking an ex). You really get this Word seed in your spirit, then you will protect yourself in a drought. It will fill that void you have in times when you are tempted. Put yourself in a position to develop strong roots, and before you know it, your vision will manifest. That is when you can look back and enjoy the fruits of your labor. That is when you receive your breakthrough and understand the importance of your journey. In the end, the grass may look greener, but people have no clue what you went through to get your harvest.